Activities in Durham

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Nestled in the heart of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter is one of the most stylish and accessible entertainment venues in the city. The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) houses music, theatre, dance and art under one roof. If you haven't been yet, it's worth popping in for a look around - no need to be shy as it's open to the public and everyone is welcomed through the doors.

There are hundreds of Glasgow hotels, but only a handful that can be described as truly luxurious. Glasgow’s best luxury hotels offer a five star service and are the best of Glasgow tourism. Whether your focus is on exquisite décor, gourmet dining or world-class spa facilities, one of these luxury Glasgow hotels will be right up your street.

Blythswood Square Hotel

In the heart of the city centre sits the 5-star Blythswood Square Hotel. Located in the opulent and historic former RAF club, Glasgow’s Blythswood hotel is a one-stop shop for all your luxury break needs. The hotel is situated right next to the popular shopping street Sauchiehall Street and just a short stroll away from the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre. Its décor is smart and elegant, using a lot of Harris Tweed fabrics to highlight it’s Scottish location. The restaurant is a popular and stylish lunch, dinner and cocktail spot - with its modern British cuisine attracting locals and hotel guests alike. The jewel in the hotel’s crown, however, is the spa - their unique thermal experience takes guests on a relaxing journey through a series of hot saunas and ice rooms.

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But this is a city which wears its heritage lightly.\r\n<h2>The Anthony Burgess Foundation</h2>\r\nRelaxed venues, like <a href=\"www.anthonyburgess.org\">The Anthony Burgess Foundation</a> are a case in point.A diverse events programme means that IABF is as often home to musicians like Julia Holter, as it is to award-winning writers. The Clockwork Orange author’s archives and reading rooms are tucked away in the basement and, if you pop in for a coffee, you’ll find people browsing Burgess’ back catalogue, in the kind of contemporary urban surrounds (it used to be a fire station) that could have been lifted from the pages of one of his novels.","url":"/articles/literary-hangouts-al","title":"A Place to Write the Next Great Novel"},{"guid":"2d3ab3b0-a913-453b-881b-dd01cd12541d","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/gexx9WPG8hkiBrYZqzyrJh/lisa-marie-ferla2-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"Lisa-Marie (or Lis, but never Lisa) is Groupon City Guide’s Glasgow-based music and culture correspondent. Although by day she’s a mild-mannered, if quirkily-dressed, employee of a leading law firm, after hours you’ll find her dancing front and centre at gigs and writing about new music for publications including <em>The Arts Desk</em> and <em>The Herald</em> as well as her long-running blog, Last Year’s Girl.\r\n<h2>When and why did you start blogging?</h2>\r\nFirst of all: it was 1999. Nobody was calling anything “blogging”. And secondly, I might have been studying law, but my intention always was to make my living as a writer - and that was never going to happen if nobody was reading what I was writing. At the time I’d kept written diaries for years, and putting them on one of those newly-established online journal sites when I got my first internet connection in the first week of university seemed like a logical step. After the phenomenon began to grow, and I realised it wasn’t doing anybody any good for the things that I wrote as a teenager to be out there relatively unfiltered, I started my properly public <a href=\"http://www.lastyearsgirl.pixlet.net\">Last Year’s Girl</a> blog in 2005. It’s still me, and I’m still pretty unfiltered, but at least these days I’m aware I have an audience!\r\n<h2>Where do you get the motivation to blog in the evenings/on weekends?</h2>\r\nAnd in between everything else I do? Well, these days it’s pretty hard, but the great thing about my blog is that it’s a place for writing about things that I love just because I want to: local places to eat cake, silly dresses, my cats and the odd feminist or political rant feature prominently. I still consider myself to be a blogger ahead of most of the things that pay for the cake, dresses and cat litter - I just need to find some activities that don’t involve writing, I think!\r\n<h2>What would be your dream job?</h2>\r\nIt surprises most people I discuss this with that I’d never want to be a music journalist full-time - I’ve always felt that if you love something, never make a profession out of it because everybody has bad days at work and I can’t imagine a life where music is proper ‘work’ to me. Instead, I’d love to be a travel writer: I tend to do my best work while I’m moving and experiencing new things, and I reckon it would give me a good reason to start working on my photography again!\r\n<h2>What’s the best meal in a restaurant you’ve ever had?</h2>\r\nWhile I love me a good steak, the best thing I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant was a stack of pancakes with bacon (and a bit of butter - none of that maple syrup nonsense) in a diner just off New York’s Times Square. It might have been the food, it might have been the freedom - I was away for a few days with my dad, but had headed out on my own for the day to explore the greatest city in the world - but I’ve spent the past decade trying to recreate that moment.\r\n<h2>Who’s your favourite musical act to see live?</h2>\r\nBruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. I’ve had the privilege of seeing the band four times now: in Dublin and Glasgow in 2009; Manchester for my 30th in 2012; and back in Glasgow in 2013. Of those, the first Glasgow show was easily one of the greatest nights of my life: it was before Clarence Clemons died, and he and the rest of the band were on top form - he’d been exhausted in Dublin. Also getting to hear “Thunder Road”, mine and my husband’s favourite song, live with him for the first time was a really special moment.\r\n<h2>What’s your secret place in Glasgow?</h2>\r\nThe patch of grass outside St Luke and St Andrew’s Church on Bain St, with my headphones on and a hot waffle and ice cream from the wee place in the Barras. Heaven when it’s sunny.\r\n<h2>Where can people follow you?</h2>\r\nOn most of your favourite social networks: <a href=\"https://twitter.com/lastyearsgirl_\">Twitter</a> and <a href=\"http://instagram.com/lastyearsgirl_\">Instagram</a> are my favourites for public-facing nonsense, sarcasm and pictures of my cats, Scooter and the Big Man (named after Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons of course!).\r\n<h2>Popular Articles by Lisa Marie</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.groupon.co.uk/articles/chart-botherers-five-of-the-best-glasgow-acts-al\">Chart Botherers: Five of the Best Glasgow Acts</a>","url":"/articles/lisa-marie-ferla","title":"Introducing Lisa-Marie Ferla"},{"guid":"ac4cf216-6de3-4aeb-9474-4793d4d9502b","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/iPkXSzBhoqAn9oE8hTrnKg/linenhall-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"The Linen Hall library is a unique Belfast institution in the heart of the city centre, just across the road from the City Hall. The Library celebrated its 225th Birthday in 2013 and remains the last library in Ireland to be part funded from membership fees and is one of the last remaining independent libraries in the world.","url":"/articles/linen-hall-library-al","title":"Belfast's Historic Linen Hall Library"},{"guid":"7846b630-e074-4037-b390-2b80d97f655e","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/j2tLNxsX6jscjjxroJjzj3/glasgow-sunbathing-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"When the sun is out, there is nothing better than being outdoors enjoying the warm rays and getting your dose of Vitamin D. Glasgow has many parks, and is not referred to as 'Dear Green Place' for no reason. Some of these Glasgow parks- such as Glasgow Green and Queen's Park aren't the safest, but others are perfect for that enjoyable sunbathing and picnic time. This is a guide to my favourite parks in Glasgow for outdoor relaxation.\r\n<h2>Rouken Glen</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.roukenglenpark.co.uk\">Rouken Glen</a> is a quiet park in the affluent Giffnock area of Glasgow's southside. Families spend time here at the weekend, and children learning to ride bikes or roller skate is a common sight, as are weekday runners winding down after work. There is a large green space right in the centre that is perfect for enjoying the sun, plus plenty of trees to provide a shady spot if desired. At weekends, right next to this sunbathing and picnic hotspot in the park is an ice cream van to help you cool down. At Rouken Glen, there are plenty of other ways to occupy yourself outdoors on a sunny day- pottery painting runs at weekends, the boating pond lets you take a rowing boat out for a spin. Plus there is a stunning woodland waterfall to gaze at, and two excellent cafes to enjoy- one in the garden centre, and one at the boating pond. A children's gated play area will keep them busy too.","url":"/articles/glasgow-parks-summer-al","title":"The Best Glasgow Parks for Summer Sunbathing"},{"guid":"003f4007-0789-4e8a-8ba3-9804d7b02f8e","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/2ZFNyGoy9tSf8XYWg52QSy/Pollock_House__Glasgow-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"Not to stereotype women here but let's be honest- not many of us know about football. We can tell a football boot from a stiletto, but that's about it! This month, the World Cup has been dominating my television, and I can't stand it. It left me pondering on how to escape, so i've put together a guide on how to avoid the World Cup in Glasgow- in ty","url":"/articles/avoid-the-world-cup-glasgow","title":"How to Avoid the World Cup in Glasgow!"},{"guid":"e8ac08f9-228c-4c81-b716-73e0a302f92a","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/dtXWHdv71WFn28p9amki8U/Jewish_Museum_Manchester-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"When it comes to museums, big doesn’t always mean best. Manchester’s small but perfectly formed museums offer intriguing days out with something for young, old, arty, fashionable and more with something to please even the pickiest palate.Greater Manchester Police MuseumSmall and hard to find it may be, but the Greater Manchester Police Museum has t","url":"/articles/manchesters-best-small-museums","title":"Manchester's Best Small Museums"}],"featuredArticles":[{"guid":"fe5f183c-8bce-4ce7-9bf2-cc29d504155b","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/4G44UMywKQciLY3uS9kisK/susie-stubbs-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"Susie's blogger page is coming soon!\r\n<h2>Popular Articles by Susie</h2>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.groupon.co.uk/articles/manchesters-best-museum-and-gallery-shops-al\">Manchester's Best Museum and Gallery Shops</a>","url":"/articles/susie-stubbs","title":"Introducing Susie Stubbs"},{"guid":"39fb68c2-9ca0-4f68-8857-fa828820cb93","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/mMGFpubxjBxfD1JYr672kN/The-Permanent-Present-artwork-launch-at-the-MAC-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"Nestled in the heart of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter is one of the most stylish and accessible entertainment venues in the city. The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre) houses music, theatre, dance and art under one roof. If you haven't been yet, it's worth popping in for a look around - no need to be shy as it's open to the public and everyone is welcomed through the doors.","url":"/articles/the-mac-thats-what-i-call-entertainment-al","title":"The MAC: That's What I Call Entertainment"},{"guid":"ba6069f6-0ffe-4a7b-9e30-b07f3d191928","imageUrl":"//img.grouponcdn.com/seocms/6A71Jtfh2FNi5qyCF1RJzB/Blythswood-600x390-600x390/v1/c140x85.png","bodyColumns":"nine","vhp_desc":"There are hundreds of Glasgow hotels, but only a handful that can be described as truly luxurious. Glasgow’s best luxury hotels offer a five star service and are the best of Glasgow tourism. Whether your focus is on exquisite décor, gourmet dining or world-class spa facilities, one of these luxury Glasgow hotels will be right up your street.\r\n<h2>Blythswood Square Hotel</h2>\r\nIn the heart of the city centre sits the 5-star Blythswood Square Hotel. Located in the opulent and historic former RAF club, Glasgow’s Blythswood hotel is a one-stop shop for all your luxury break needs. The hotel is situated right next to the popular shopping street Sauchiehall Street and just a short stroll away from the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre. Its décor is smart and elegant, using a lot of Harris Tweed fabrics to highlight it’s Scottish location. The restaurant is a popular and stylish lunch, dinner and cocktail spot - with its modern British cuisine attracting locals and hotel guests alike. The jewel in the hotel’s crown, however, is the spa - their unique thermal experience takes guests on a relaxing journey through a series of hot saunas and ice rooms.","url":"/articles/luxury-hotels-in-glasgow-al","title":"In the Lap of Luxury! Best Luxury Hotels in Glasgow"}]}}}}}